


Walk You Home (Nishinoya x Fem!Reader)

by lightninglibero



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Seriously it's just pure fluff and nothing else, and some jealousy thrown in for good measure, fluffy fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25075126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightninglibero/pseuds/lightninglibero
Summary: In which a certain libero gets jealous of his crush spending more time with his first year teammates than him and has to work out a way to confess… either that, or lose his mind over all the things he’s left unsaid.
Relationships: Nishinoya Yuu/Reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 260





	Walk You Home (Nishinoya x Fem!Reader)

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my Tumblr! (@lightninglibero)

The match was scheduled to take place that afternoon. Nishinoya and Tanaka stood outside the gym just a few paces away from the door. Judging by the voices coming from within, the girl’s team had already arrived.

“Okay,” Tanaka said, rubbing Nishinoya’s shoulders like a wrestling coach hyping up their student before an important match. Tanaka was the only one who knew how badly he was crushing on you. You three shared a class, after all, and it was essentially impossible for Tanaka not to notice how often Nishinoya stared at you when he thought you weren’t looking. “So, you’re gonna go in there and march up to her, and then you’re gonna say what?”

“Hey, (y/n), looks like we finally get to play a game together!” Nishinoya recited, setting his jaw in a determined line.

“Exactly! And then what are you gonna do?”

“Win!”

“Hell yeah you are!” Tanaka pounded him on the back. “You’ve got this, man.”

Nishinoya grinned. This was the opportunity he’d been waiting for. When Daichi had announced that the captain of the girls’ volleyball team had requested a co-ed practice match with them, he couldn’t believe his luck. Before now, he’d never really gotten the chance to talk to you much. You were the wing spiker of the girl’s volleyball team, and occasionally he’d managed to catch you after class to congratulate you on a win or ask how your practices were going. But so far, he was pretty sure all those conversations had done nothing more than stamp him as a casual acquaintance in your mind.

Now, though, it seemed the winds of change were finally blowing in his direction. The chance to not only talk to you one-on-one, but also impress you by doing what he did best? It almost seemed too good to be true. There was no way he could possibly screw this up.

Adjusting his club jacket and swelling out his chest with confidence, he pushed open the door and headed inside.

The girls’ and boys’ teams were already split up on both sides of the net, passing a ball back and forth. The sound of squeaking gym shoes echoed across the floor.

Daichi waved Nishinoya and Tanaka over. “There you are,” he said. “I almost started to think you guys forgot.”

“Nope,” Nishinoya replied. Instead of looking at Daichi, his eyes scanned the room, searching for your familiar face.

Well, you’re here now, so that’s all that matters. You two are with me, Michimiya-san and two of her teammates. We’ll switch out with Ennoshita, Sugawara and Asahi after the first set. Got it?”

“Uh huh.”

Daichi raised an eyebrow. After a moment he seemed to decide to brush off Nishinoya’s strange behavior. “All right. Go warm up,” he said, turning to head over to the net.

Tanaka nudged Nishinoya’s arm and pointed. Nishinoya turned his head and immediately realized what – or more accurately, who – his friend was pointing at. 

There you were, standing on the sidelines with Tsukkishima and Sugawara, laughing at something one of them had said. Gregarious, as usual. You always seemed to attract people wherever you went. Yet another reason why Nishinoya had never found the right opportunity to tell you how he felt.

Tanaka pounded him on the back. “Go get her,” he whispered.

Swallowing his nerves, Nishinoya gave him a thumbs-up, then puffed out his chest and walked over to you.

You’ve got this, Yuu. All you have to do is…

Unfortunately he didn’t even get the chance to finish his thought before you turned around and smiled at him.

The second your gaze met his, every last ounce of Nishinoya’s confidence leaked out of his ears. His heart lodged itself in his throat.

Oh no.

“Hey, Nishinoya,” you said brightly. “Never thought I’d see you on the same side of the net, huh?” You looked him up and down. “You look good in that jacket.”

Nishinoya’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. Suddenly he couldn’t think straight anymore. He knew he was supposed to say something, but couldn’t remember what it was. All he could think about was the fact that you looked… far more attractive in your uniform than should even be legal.

He was blushing. He knew he was blushing.

Say something. SAY SOMETHING!

Shaking like a leaf, he stood up straight and blurted out, “Thanks! You look good in that face!”

…Shit.

He knew he’d made a mistake the second he started to speak, but there was no taking back the words now. His ears burned like wildfire as you stood there, staring at him with a slightly confused expression.

“Oh, um… thank you?” you said as Sugawara chuckled. You turned your head towards Kageyama, who was getting ready to serve on the other side of the net. “Well, er… looks like we’re starting now.”

“R…right,” Nishinoya said in a small voice, staring at the floor because he couldn’t bear to look at you at the moment. He was painfully aware of the sound of your footsteps walking away as you hurried off to take up your position at the other end of the court.

Tsukkishima cleared his throat. “You look good in that face?” he repeated with a smirk. “Interesting. I’ll have to try that pick-up line sometime.”

Nishinoya ground his teeth together. “Shut it,” he growled, running off to join the rest of the team.

Unfortunately, his blunder proved to be a bad omen of things to come, because the match was a total disaster from the moment it started. For the first time in his life, what normally came so naturally to him suddenly felt as difficult as scaling a mountain while carrying a sack of bricks. He kept missing even the easiest of serves that were spiked in his direction, and he barely managed to avoid taking a serve to the face after his teammates yelled at him to watch out.

To be fair, though, it wasn’t really his fault. Not only were you one of the three girls on his team, you were standing literally right in front of him. Looking like… well. Like that. As gorgeous as you always did.

Why the hell had Daichi thought this would be a good idea?

*

After the practice match disaster, Nishinoya figured there was no way things could get any worse. Hopefully, he figured, you’d forget about what had happened and he could go back to somehow managing to talk about something other than volleyball with you. Things would blow over. Maybe he’d even find a way to look back on this and laugh about it once he figured out a way to impress you that didn’t involve making a hopeless fool of himself.

It’s fine. It’s fine. Everything’s gonna be fine, he told himself on his way to class the next day.

Everything was not fine.

It started that afternoon during lunch. His plan was to sit next to you, find some way to bring up the practice match while simultaneously making a joke out of his horribly embarrassing blunder. He’d even practiced a few punchlines in front of a mirror that morning, just to be on the safe side. But by the time he found you, you were already surrounded… by two of his first-year teammates, no less.

“(Y/n)-chan, the way you spiked yesterday was so awesome!” Hinata was saying through a mouthful of food. “Will you teach me how to spike like that sometime?”

You laughed. “Yeah, sure. What about you, Yamaguchi? You can join us, if you want.”

His face brightened. “Okay. I’d definitely appreciate some tips.”

Although he wasn’t even a part of the conversation in the first place, Nishinoya couldn’t help but feel left out. He’d talked about volleyball with you plenty of times before. Why had you never asked him to practice with you?

He shook his head and walked away, disappointed. It was fine. You were only being your friendly, gregarious self, as usual. He couldn’t exactly be mad at you just because you’d offered to help out his teammates.

But that wasn’t where it ended.

Every time he saw you that week, you were always with someone else. Whether it was tossing serves to Hinata and Yamaguchi outside the gym, or talking to Kageyama by the vending machine, or – worst of all – showing up after practice to chat with all three of them – he just couldn’t get a chance to talk with you alone. Sometimes he hovered nearby, trying to figure out a way to jump in on whatever conversation you were having without seeming too overeager - but every time he tried to think of something to say to you, all he could think of was the way he’d screwed things up the first time. There was no way he could risk something like that happening again in front of everyone.

No, if he was going to talk to you – properly this time – it looked like he was going to have to get you away from his teammates first.

He was walking down the hall one day, mulling over how he might go about this, when all of a sudden he turned a corner and saw you standing in the middle of the hall. Ah! Perfect! At last, you were alone, and he could finally—

“Thanks! I owe you for this,” you said.

…Wait. You weren’t alone, after all. You were standing in front of the entrance to the library, and standing just beyond the doorway was…

“Sure,” Tsukkishima said nonchalantly. “Just have it back in a couple weeks.”

You clutched a book to your chest. A book Tsukki must have just handed to you, Nishinoya realized.

“And don’t stain the pages,” Tsukki went on. “I’ve seen you always drinking those cans of pomegranate tea while you study.”

You laughed. “You worry too much. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna throw it into a volcano or anything.”

Nishinoya backed up behind the corner, blood boiling.

Stop, he tried to tell himself. It’s nothing. It’s just a dumb book, that’s all. It was stupid to read too much into things. After all, you could talk to whoever you wanted – and if one of those people happened to be Tsukkishima, then who was he to stop you?

But that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was you never spent half as much time with him as you were suddenly spending with his teammates, and his teammates weren’t the ones who’d had a stupid crush on you since you’d started high school together.

*

After practice that night, Nishinoya sat on the floor in Tanaka’s room, staring at a magazine that he wasn’t actually reading. He’d come over to study, but right now, studying was the furthest thing from his mind. You’d shown up after practice again, and naturally, Hinata and Yamaguchi had crowded around you first, stealing yet another chance to talk to you from under his nose. At this point, he was pretty sure he was invisible.

It’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair…

“What’s not fair?” Tanaka asked.

Nishinoya looked up. He hadn’t realized he’d said that out loud.

“Nothing,” he mumbled.

“Hey, come on. You’ve been acting weird ever since the practice match with the girls. What’s the matter with you?”

“Nothing! Just… it’s nothing.”

“Ohhh. Wait a minute. You’re not still upset about how things went with (y/n), are you?”

Tanaka had been standing within earshot went Nishinoya had spectacularly messed up his line – and he hadn’t allowed him to live it down since.

“Heh… I told you, you’ve gotta forget about that, man,” Tanaka chuckled. “Don’t worry, you’ll get another chance—”

“No, I won’t!” Nishinoya snapped, pounding his fist on the table. “Not when the first years can’t seem to leave her alone!”

His best friend blinked. “Uh… what?”

Nishinoya huffed. “Every time I see her lately, she’s always hanging around Hinata, or Yamaguchi, or Kageyama… She’s even on good terms with Tsukkishima! Tsukkishima! And that salty beanpole never hits it off with anybody!”

Tanaka shrugged. “So? She’s just got one of those personalities.”

Nishinoya muttered something under his breath.

“Wait. You’re not…” Tanaka laughed. “Ha, that’s it! You’re jealous!”

“Wh… I am not jealous!”

“Yes you are! It’s all over your face!”

“It is not!”

Tanaka wiped a tear of laughter from his eye. “Look, all you have to do is tell her how you really feel, you know.”

Nishinoya looked away. He didn’t want to be having this conversation right now, but there wasn’t really any point in hiding anything from his best friend. “I just don’t wanna mess it up,” he admitted quietly.

“You won’t! Any girl would be lucky to date you! Besides, what’s the worst she could do?”

A vivid image of Kiyoko slapping him across the face popped into Nishinoya’s mind. He groaned and rested his forehead on the table. “Just kill me.”

“Psh… seriously, you’re overreacting. If you don’t confess to her, I’ll just have to do it for you.”

Nishinoya lifted his head, eyes wide. “What? No way! Then she’ll think I’m a wimp!”

“So, are you?”

“Am I what?”

Tanaka grinned. “A wimp.”

Nishinoya ground his teeth together. “I have homework to do,” he muttered, standing up and slinging his bag over his shoulder.

“Homework? Haha, that’s a first!” Tanaka laughed as Nishinoya stormed out the door.

*

Nishinoya’s bad mood followed him to school the next day and lasted until practice. He threw every ounce of energy he had into receiving Sugawara’s serves, trying to burn off steam, but it was no use. All he could think about was you. The way you laughed at Hinata and Yamaguchi’s jokes, the way you talked with the normally reserved Kageyama and Tsukkishima like it was nothing, the way you paid attention to them and not him and…

“Nishinoya!” Daichi yelled at him. He’d furiously whacked his wrist against the ball with such force that it nearly hit Tsukkishima in the back of the head.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, glancing away to avoid the dirty look Tsukkishima was throwing at him.

A few minutes after practice was over, you showed up, right on schedule – with a bag of ice pops in hand, of all things. This time, though, he didn’t even bother trying to compete with his teammates for your attention as they excitedly crowded around you. He threw on his jacket and stormed out of the gym, slamming the door shut with far more force than was necessary.

What was even the point in trying, anyway? Even if he could manage to work up the courage to tell you how he felt, it wasn’t like you even felt the same way about him.

It doesn’t matter, he told himself, knowing full well that it was a lie. But if he had to live a lie, it would be better to just accept it now and move on than keep torturing himself by trying to get you to see him as anything more than a barely-even friend.

He’d almost made it to the bus stop when he heard someone running up behind him.

“Nishinoya!” You called out to him. He flinched and turned around. You were bent over, breathing heavily from how fast you must have been running to catch up with him.

“Geez, you’re fast,” you gasped. “Why’d you storm off like that? Everyone was worried. They all said you’ve been acting weird lately—”

“What do you care?” he snapped, looking away.

Crap. Now he was getting mad. He was finally alone with you, and all he felt was anger.

You stared at him in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“I’m fine, okay?”

“You don’t seem fine. Every time I show up after your practices, you always leave in a hurry. Do you not want me there or something?’

Nishinoya clenched his shaking fists, still not quite managing to meet your gaze. “Don’t you have your own practices to go to?”

He regretted it the moment he said it. You winced, a slightly hurt look on your face.

“Are you saying you don’t want me to come anymore?”

No, no, NO…

He had to fix this before he messed things up even more. What the hell was wrong with him? He didn’t even mean any of what he was saying!

“No! No, that’s not…” He swallowed, scuffing at the ground with his foot. “It’s just… all you ever do is hang out with my teammates.”

“Why should that bother you?”

There it was. The one question that wouldn’t leave his mind; the one that had been driving him crazy all week. And now that it was out in the open, he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Because I like you, okay?!”

His eyes went wide, realizing what he’d just said a second too late.

Crap. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. He wanted to confess, but not like this. Not with you staring at him like you’d just been struck by lightning.

But he couldn’t stop now. He took a deep breath and let everything he’d been bottling inside of him come crashing out all at once.

“I like you,” he said. “And I have, for a really long time. I like the way you laugh, and how good you are at spiking, and…” he winced, “…and I even like that you get along with my teammates, even though I wish I was the one you wanted to talk to. But I know you don’t feel the same way, so…”

“Nishinoya!” you shouted. Startled, he stopped abruptly.

You shook your head and sighed. “You’re really stupid, you know that? The only reason I kept coming back to your practices was so I could see you!”

He blinked. “I… you… what?” What exactly was happening right now? “But you’re always hanging out with the first years! You even brought them ice cream, for crying out loud…”

“Yeah, well, I was going to just bring one for you because Hinata said they’re your favorite, but I thought that would be too obvious, so I just brought some for your whole team instead,” you huffed.

“…Oh.”

You rubbed the back of your neck, awkwardly looking away. “I figured after the practice game I had an excuse to hang around you more without it being too weird, since I’d gotten to know more of your teammates. But you’re the one I wanted to talk to. I… wanted to impress you, I guess.” You paused, nervously chewing your lip. “I’ve been trying to get to know your teammates better so I could ask them for help. But all the advice they gave me just made me second guess myself even more, and… I mean, of course I like hanging out with them, but you’re the one I actually wanted to see. And you keep running off so fast after practice all the time that I never even get the chance.”

“…This whole time?”

“Yeah.” You blushed and looked away. “You idiot.”

Nishinoya was so stunned he could barely form a coherent thought. After a long pause, he said the first thing that came into his head. 

“So, um.” He cleared his throat. “Can I…still have my ice cream?”

You smirked. “No. Tsukkishima ate it.”

You stared at each other for a second, then burst out laughing.

“I guess we’re both idiots,” Nishinoya said, grinning shyly.

“Yeah,” you said. “I guess we are.”

This whole time he’d been so worked up about trying to come up with the perfect opportunity to impress you, thinking all his efforts were going unnoticed, when in reality you’d been running in circles around each other this whole time. Relief washed over him. Maybe, just maybe, he had a chance with you after all.

Laughing softly in spite of himself, he reached out and gently took your hand.

“…Can I walk you home?” he asked hesitantly.

You laughed again, hair falling over your face as you tried to hide the soft blush spreading over your cheeks. After a moment, you looked up at him and gently squeezed his hand, sending his heart flying just like you always did.

“Yeah,” you said with a smile. “I’d like that.”


End file.
